The Reluctant Tommy : An Extraordinary Memoir of the First World War

Skirth, Ronald; Barrett, Duncan

ISBN 10: 023074673X / ISBN 13: 9780230746732

Published by Macmillan & Co Ltd, London, 2010

About this Item

THE RELUCTANT TOMMY Ronald Skirth's Extraordinary Memoir of the First World War. Duncan Barrett (Editor) Macmillan Publishing, London 2010 First edition ISBN 9780230746732 354pp Illustrated Hardback. This copy is in mint unread condition in a mint unclipped dust wrapper. 'Ella darling, There are things I have concealed from you up till now that I think you ought to know; things that have turned me from a different person from the Ronald you know.' So, in April 1918, Ronald Skirth, a non-commissioned officer in the Royal Artillery, wrote to his sweetheart, back in England. A year before, Skirth, then just nineteen years old, had been sent to fight on the Western Front. This is his story, the story of a young man who went to war a devoted servant of King and country and returned utterly convinced that war, all war, was wrong and who acted upon his convictions, making a pact with God that he would not kill. This riveting memoir was written fifty years after the end of the war, drawing on his own contemporary diary entries and letters home. Never published before, it affords a vivid, moving and surprising insight into that most dreadful of conflicts. Ref CC3.

Seller Inventory # 009543

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Reluctant Tommy : An Extraordinary Memoir of the First World War
• Publisher: Macmillan & Co Ltd, London
• Publication Date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 023074673X
• ISBN 13: 9780230746732
• Binding: Hardback
• Edition: First Edition
• Condition: Mint
• Dust Jacket Condition: Mint

About this title

Synopsis

'Ella darling, There are things I have concealed from you up till now that I think you ought to know; things that have turned me from a different person from the Ronald you know.' So, in April 1918, Ronald Skirth, a non-commissioned officer in the Royal Artillery, wrote to his sweetheart, back in England. A year before, Skirth, then just nineteen years old, had been sent to fight on the Western Front. This is his story, the story of a young man who went to war a devoted servant of King and country and returned utterly convinced that war, all war, was wrong and who acted upon his convictions, making a pact with God that he would not kill. This riveting memoir was written fifty years after the end of the war, drawing on his own contemporary diary entries and letters home. Never published before, it affords a vivid, moving and surprising insight into that most dreadful of conflicts.

About the Author

After the First World War, Ronald Skirth returned to England and married Ella. He became a teacher and, after he had retired, wrote his memoirs of the First World War. He died in 1977 and is survived by his daughter, Jean.

Duncan Barrett is an editor and writer. He lives in London.